Geometric Symmetries in Superfluid Vortex Dynamics

Abstract

Dynamics of quantized vortex lines in a superfluid feature symmetries associated with the geometric character of the complex-valued field, $w(z)=x(z)+iy(z)$, describing the instant shape of the line. Along with a natural set of Noether's constants of motion, which---apart from their rather specific expressions in terms of $w(z)$---are nothing but components of the total linear and angular momenta of the fluid, the geometric symmetry brings about crucial consequences for kinetics of distortion waves on the vortex lines---the Kelvin waves. It is the geometric symmetry that renders Kelvin-wave cascade local in the wavenumber space. Similar considerations apply to other systems with purely geometric degrees of freedom.